Hearthpwn

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• 12/9 Update: Adjusted the decklist, included a new intro linking to my other guides
• 11/26 Update: Adjusted some matchups, added a few new ones, and included a few more tech cards.

Hello, you are reading an in depth guide to Tempo Mage. After hitting top 200 legend with it last season and hitting legend again this season, I'm going to be moving on to other decks so this guide is my way of saying goodbye to a very fun deck.

Why Tempo Mage?

Tempo Mage is a classic Mage archetype. I personally think the game would be very unfortunate if Freeze Mage was the only viable type for such an iconic class so Tempo Mage needs to keep the torch burning.

As of this writing (11/20/2015), Tempo Mage is ranked 8th on the LiquidHearth rankings and 10th on the Tempo Storm Meta Snapshot, putting it in the top of Tier 2 or so. The deck was picked by one player (Hotform) in the Hearthstone World Championship at Blizzcon.

In all honesty, the deck seems a bit underpowered at the moment and in tier 2 for a reason. My winrate this season is around 60%, not elite. However, the deck is very fun to play, very explosive, and good for people who like the Mage class in general.

Winning with Tempo Mage

Tempo Mage is a very early game focused deck, centering around the key drops of Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Flamewaker. If you were going to boil it down even further, the deck basically wins off the synergies between Apprentice, Waker, and a number of solid Mage spells.

The tempo from the deck comes from the cost reductions on spell cards along with removal in the form of Flamewaker and spells like Frostbolt and Fireball. Like most tempo decks, your board advantage tends to snowball due to Flamewaker pings and Mana Wyrm growth. The deck does not play very well from behind and is not very good at flipping the board. The deck also tends to run out of steam in the endgame and cannot cope well with sticky minions.

When played properly, Tempo Mage is extremely rewarding and extremely fun. Popping off a bunch of reduced cost spells and feeling the ping of Flamewakers is a joyride through Hearthstone.

Core Build

My deck is pretty straightforward. While practicing with Tempo Mage, I have actually tried a ton of different concepts and tech, from secretless builds to Blingtron + Ragnaros to Violet Teacher and such. The core deck seems to have become core for a reason. Here are the core cards to the build in my opinion:

• 2x Mana Wyrm
• 2x Sorcerer's Apprentice
• 2x Flamewaker
• 2x Frostbolt
• 2x Unstable Portal
• 2x Fireball
• 1x Dr. Boom

After this, you flesh out the build with a number of different packages. Here are some notes on additional build paths.

• Secret Package (Recommended): This is two Mad Scientist and either Mirror Entity + Counterspell or 2 Mirror Entity. There are definitely games where you will draw both secrets and cry but I think two secrets is optimal. Hardcasting secrets from hand kind of sucks and is easily played around.
• Scientist is actually a staple for Tempo Mage because it's a sticky 2 drop that helps cover your Apprentice. It's actually not optimal very often to play Apprentice on 2, you want to save her to discount a bunch of spells in hand. So Scientist is pretty key.
• I settled on Counterspell but it has its own drawbacks. It can single-handedly win games by stopping a Force of Nature or Brawl, but it's not very good versus Secret Paladin and versus people who coin or use spare parts and such.
• Archmage Antonidas Package (Recommended): This is Archmage with Arcane MIssiles/Mirror Images/Arcane Blast. Arcane Missiles does 3 damage for 1 mana and it's a really good card overall in the current metagame. There are a lot of 1 health creatures roaming about, and Antonidas is one of the few value-heavy snowball cards you have that can help you win versus decks that otherwise outvalue you like Control Warrior and Oil Rogue. I also run 2 Mirror Image because it has great synergy and helps beef up a few unfavorable matchups (i.e Warrior). Arcane Blast is fine as a 1 or 2 of. There are a lot of vulnerable 2 health creatures in the metagame right now and taking one out for 0 mana is a huge tempo play.
• Arcane Intellect (Recommended): For a long time I thought this card was anti-tempo (which it is) and only ran 1 and tried 0. I found out quickly that running 0 makes the mirror match very hard to win and your deck tends to run out of steam. I don't think you need 2 Intellects and 2 Azures though.
• Picking Four and Five Drops: I lean Water Elemental because it helps out a few of the unfavorable matchups and also contributes to the increased winrate vs Druid. Shredder is basically the definition of tempo though and one of the best cards in the game.
• As far as five drops go, Azure Drake does provide a number of synergies but I find the card to be a bit overrated. The problem is there aren't very many good replacements. I don't like how it just dies to a weapon hit or Shredder.

Tech: Some quick notes on some tech cards and different picks you might consider, all from personal experience

• Clockwork Gnome: I think this is a great card overall and helps you pressure in the early game. You won't find Wyrm every game so this is a solid pick in a pinch. Against Paladin for example, it will let you trade with a Juggler or Minibot on turn 2.
• Flamecannon: This is one of the best cards against Druid and Priest. If you run into a lot while you are climbing, definitely pack 1 or 2.
• Arcane Explosion: Very helpful against Paladin but doesn't work very well versus other decks. Not a huge fan.
• Fallen Hero: 3/2's without deathrattles are way too vulnerable in this metagame and I think the hero power is way too slow as well. Not a fan of this card at all in Tempo Mage.
• Spellslinger: A lot of pros have run 2 of this card in their lists. The reason is there aren't a lot of solid bodies at 3 and much like Scientist protecting Apprentice on 2, Spellslinger will protect Flamewaker on 3. You don't want to play Waker on 3 very often without coin so yeah. I think this card is actually a bit underrated and definitely should be considered.
• Effigy/Duplicate: I tried a lot of variants running Sludge Belcher and Effigy. I think both of these secrets are inferior to Mirror Entity and also Counterspell. Effigy is very unreliable, especially with Mirror Images, and Duplicate is a bit too slow for the game.
• Polymorph: Boar: I never really got to try this card. I wanted to try it in an aggressive face-centric deck with Blingtron and Ragnaros but never quite got around to it. Tempo Mage is actually quite vulnerable to monster endgame threats such as Tirion, Ysera, and Grommash. In theory I would prefer this card to Polymorph though so there is no writeup for the vanilla Poly.
• Forgotten Torch: This guide was written right when LoE opened so I never had the chance to test this card. I'm not a fan of it conceptually though. 3 mana on 3 is a bit too expensive to be playing, and you don't necessarily want to draw burn cards in the future. Yes, it can be nice to draw a Fireball often, but sometimes you're just looking for a card like Archmage or solid body.
• Ethereal Conjurer- Again, I haven't tested this card but it seems very similar to power with Azure Drake. I would try the two of them out and see which one fits your style better. Might lean slightly toward Azure Drake though.
• Flamestrike: I went back and forth on this one. Paradoxically, Flamestrike is actually a very underwhelming card when you're behind on board. It's very good to continue furthering your board advantage though, and can help certain matchups (Priest, Paladin, Druid) quite a bit at the right time. However, I tend to follow the idea that if you need to Flamestrike to catch up, you've already lost. You also want to be able to play a lot of stuff to start the game, and holding a bunch of 5-7 costed cards won't cut it.
• Rhonin: I would love to make this card work. It's probably an include now that the game seems to be slowing down a bit. When I was climbing, LoE didn't come out and the meta was just way too fast.
• Kezan Mystic: This card can single-handedly save two tough matchups (Freeze Mage and Hunters). It's also okay-ish versus Secret Paladin. I ran one Kezan for a very long time.
• Sludge Belcher: I greatly prefer Azure Drake to this. This card is just too slow and has too low attack at 5. The best reaction against aggro decks is to be aggressive yourself.
• Blingtron 3000: This is actually a theoretically great card with 2 Mirror Image, 2 Water Elemental, and Frostbolts. It's super sexy when you can actually replace their weapon and it gives you extra reach. Unfortunately I ended up cutting it :(
• Loatheb: Loatheb is a solid card to consider over Azure Drake. It's mainly used to block Brawl and save your life against Druid on key swing turns. Unfortunately it doesn't mesh well with Counterspell and doesn't help very much against Paladin at all.
• Nexus-Champion Saraad: Hotform runs this card. I think it's a bit too slow but it definitely helps in the value matchups versus decks like Control Warrior and Priest. It might come back a bit now that the metagame has slowed down.
• Emperor Thaurissan: This card seems a bit underrated to me in Tempo Mage. I was using it in forms of Casino and actually never got around to testing it in pure Tempo Mage. Definitely one to consider.
• Toshley: Great in a deck with Archmage with a very solid body. If I had to pick a 6 drop, I'd probably go Toshley then Emperor then Sylvanas.
• Sylvanas Windrunner: This card owns me every time someone drops it on me so I would also like to include this one. Might be too slow though (read Flamestrike).
• Ragnaros: This card felt a bit too slow for me with all of the weenie Paladin tokens running around and BGH ready to pounce.

General Tips:

• You want to hit the board early and hit it hard. If you don't have strong plays in the first few turns, you will lose. Keep that in mind when mulliganing.
• It's often a better tempo play to keep Apprentice in hand with a 2 mana spell such as Frostbolt or Flamecannon. Reason is you don't often have a great play on 3 anyways and Apprentice + one of those spells on 3 is a great way to flip the board early.
• Try to calculate precisely 2 turn lethals. There were a number of games I lost where a better player would have won. ex: One game I was at 5 health and hero powered a 1/1 recruit instead of just going face. The next turn the Paladin was at 13 and I had 12 damage on board.
• Also realize when you are running out of steam and make the "switch" to push mostly for face and avoid trading. Certain matchups dictate that you play very aggressively from the start. You won't win a long game versus them.
• Try your best to protect Apprentice and Flamewaker. Keep them out of range of Aoe's as well, such as Consecration and Swipe.
• Keep in mind when you can threaten free trades. Two examples: Opponent plays Juggler. You should play Scientist even if you hold Frostbolt or something since they don't have a good way to clear Scientist without -1. Or opponent plays Cleric. I would coin Apprentice here since not many Priests run Holy Smith so they can really only block with Wyrmrest.
• Plan your trades so that you don't end up having to ping on key turns. If you're holding an Azure Drake on turn 3, you don't want to leave one health minions on board and you might want to play a Mirror Image or something instead of floating 1 mana. 
• Mana Wyrm + Mirror Image is one of the strongest and most threatening ways to just flat out win the game. No class really has a great way of clearing Images early so you will probably get 9+ damage on just that play alone.
• Play your Scientists as soon as possible to thin the secrets out of your deck. Try to also kill off your Scientists (sensibly, don't just ram them in for no trade) before playing your Arcane Intellects. There are key times in game where you should actually try to kill off your own Scientist to put up a clutch Mirror or CS. 
• If you have 2 Wyrms and Coin, I prefer playing Wyrm on T1 and then playing Wyrm on T2, coining to buff both, then playing a 2 mana card.
• Play Scientist before Apprentice, especially if you have a 2 mana spell.
• In matchups where you really need a certain card such as Flamewaker or Antonidas, you should be pretty greedy with them. Don't play them on a turn thinking your opponent has no removal. ex: Vs Control Warrior's 4 CIH, I played an Antonidas behind a Mirror Image on Turn 7, despite holding 3 1 mana spells (giving me 3 fireballs if I waited until turn 10). He had Revenge + Execute and I lost my big chance of winning the game.
• When you have a big Antonidas turn coming up, try to play an Apprentice the turn before so you can just combo off on Turn 7 with a bunch of 0 mana spells.
• You can often suspect someone is playing a Reno deck if they're playing unusual picks at the start. An example would be something like Bouncing Blade at the start. A lot of Reno decks also have slower starts in my experience, so if something feels "too easy" you should probably save your spells for controlling the board or to end the game in one turn.

Matchups

• Shaman (Favorable)
• Mulligan: 1-2 Mana Minions, Flamecannon, Frostbolt
• Basically the game comes down to whether you can make your first few drops stick. If you do, you will clear their totems and deathrattles off each turn and further your board advantage since their plays on 3/4/5 are relatively weak for taking back board. If you lose board, you will get pecked at by a number of minions and then Bloodlust will probably just end the game.
• Shaman overall is a very snowbally archetype. If you're behind, you'll generally fall further behind due to the way Totems work. If you're ahead, you'll generally win unless they flip the board with Lightning Storm since Shaman doesn't play very many drops that stand strong on their own.
• I haven't played against many Shamans and ran into zero from Rank 5 to Legend this season. You can assume Shaman decks are generally the midrange/Bloodlust type popularized by MrYagut and Pinpingho and others. I expect this to change with some of the new LoE cards though.

• Control Warrior (Even to Unfavorable)
• Key Tech: Mirror Image, Water Elemental, Loatheb, Archmage Antonidas
• Swing Cards: Fiery War Axe (2), Death's Bite (4), Brawl (5)
• Mulligan: 1-2 Mana Minions, Mirror Image
• Mirror Images, Mirror Entity, Water Elemental, and Loatheb all help this matchup if you're having trouble. This matchup is unfavorable for sure without a lot of the key tech I listed.
• Control Warrior has a pretty relaxed early game with no major threats. They are basically looking to play reactively and just weapon clear your minions. Generally if you get to around turn 6 without pushing the pace, you will be overtaken. 
• You have to be very aggressive here and try to find Mirror Image to protect your Wyrm and Apprentice. You should be playing a minion every turn and hunting aggressively for face damage.
• Brawl will win a lot of games for the Warrior. Probably the main reason I run Counterspell actually and tried Loatheb for a while. It's good to have a Counterspell setup, and you don't want to overextend too hard especially with Images up. But it's kind of a curse because if you don't extend, they will eventually find the cards to beat you.
• Around turn 7, if they have used a lot of removal, it's likely they won't be able to answer an Antonidas. So he can win games single-handedly as well.

• Patron Warrior (Even)
• Key Tech: Flamestrike
• This is an easier matchup. Without Warsong Commander, Patrons are actually a bit too slow and you can generally end games before the Patrons become a threat. You want to get Acolytes off the board since they will generate advantage later. Try not to keep damaged minions up on their side of the board and just be really aggressive with the face damage. 
• Flamestrike can singlehandedly win this matchup since Patron Warriors still put a lot of their resources into making a board of Patrons and don't always have the mana to Battle Rage.

• Oil Rogue (Even)
• Key Tech: Loatheb
• Swing Cards: Blade Flurry, Tinker's Sharpsword Oil, Loatheb, Sprint
• Mulligan: 1-3 Mana Minions
• Rogue, especially off coin, doesn't play very many minions in the early game so you don't need removal as much. I would probably keep Frostbolt/Flamecannon going first though because coin + SI:Agent is a common play.
• Rogue has a lot of answers to our common drops. Eviscerate clears Flamewaker, weapons and Backstab and SI kill our Apprentices and such. Generally a bit annoying. However, if they don't find Eviscerate, our high health minions (Waker, Water Ele) can make it difficult for them.
• Rogue has a very tough time dealing with big minions such as Dr. Boom and Antonidas. Often, their only way of playing back is to Sap it. So you want to hit your big minions on curve as soon as possible.
• Both of us have problems dealing with Loatheb. Loatheb in general is a really good card against Rogue and will often let you push in massive extra face damage and shut down their entire next turn.
• You will lose the long game because of Sprint so make sure to push aggressively.
• Get their Violet Teachers off board as soon as possible. Just make it a focus to clear each minion they play, or Tinker's will put you in a lot of pain.
• Rogues can also end up vulnerable to reach but they are also extremely capable of a lot of reach themselves with something like Assassin's Blade + Poison into face into Blade Flurry. Buck nasty!

• Raptor Rogue (Theoretically Unfavorable)
• Swing Cards: Unearthed Raptor (3), Sylvanas Windrunner (6)
• Mulligan: 1-3 Mana Minions, Flamecannon
• This is a new deck post LoE that is capable of hitting Legend for sure and is probably tier 2 so expect to see it.
• Tempo Mage in general has big problems with deathrattles and with Nerubian Egg.
• I've never really played this matchup but it seems to be a nightmare theoretically.
• Clear their board of as many deathrattles as you can, especially stuff like Loot Hoarder on turn 2 since they will want to play the Raptor for value on 3.
• You should probably pop an egg if you have the means to clear it that turn, since it will come back to haunt you for sure through Abusive/Cold Blood/Argus etc.

• Midrange Druid (Favorable)
• Key Tech: Flamecannon, Mirror Entity, Ragnaros 
• Swing Cards: Darnassus Aspirant (2), Keeper of the Grove (4), Swipe (4), Force of Nature (6), Combo Turn (9)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Frostbolt/Flamecannon
• You're heavily favored against Midrange Druid. I think the key reasons are that Wild Growth makes them fall behind too far in tempo and Mirror Entity shuts down their future drops.
• Clear their board as they get closer to the later turns or you will be in for a world of hurt.
• Try to bait out their Darnassus Aspirant with a Counterspell. Try to play Mirror Entity on big swing turns such as 5 or 7.
• Keeper of the Grove hitting your Apprentice and triggering Entity is a huge equity play for them. Try to avoid it.
• Be mindful of Force of Nature unboosted clearing 2-3 of your minions. Try to keep Mirror Images up.
• Swiping Flamewaker is also pretty common so try not to leave any 1 health minions up.
• Your mulligan should be focused on keeping Aspirant off the board since they don't have any other early threats.

• Aggro Druid (slightly favorable)
• Key Tech: Mirror Image 
• Swing Cards: Fel Reaver (5), Force of Nature (6), Combo Turn (9)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Frostbolt/Flamecannon. Keep Waker + Missiles  with coin.
• Aggro Druid has a much more active board presence earlier and so you're much less favored.
• Early turns will revolve around taking out the Living Roots tokens and a variety of early drops including Knife Juggler, Aspirant, and Druid of the Saber. A lot of times this might exhaust your resources.
• Aggro Druid also plays a strong curve 4-6 and a Fel Reaver can devastate you if you didn't get a good draw. However, if you do have a good draw you can generally play Mirror Images or Frostbolt to block and then mill them out of a lot of options.
• Otherwise all of the advice given to the midrange matchup applies, since both Druid variants play similarly near the endgame.

• Control Priest (even to slightly unfavorable)
• Swing Cards: Northshire Cleric (1), Cabal Shadow Priest (6)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Frostbolt/Flamecannon.
• Vs all Priest decks, you want to play very aggressively for board control. However, you won't win by just going face since they can always heal up.
• Their hero power leads to massive card advantage so don't let them keep a minion up even if you have to use a lot of resources to clear each turn. You can't really make the "switch" and push all face against Priest.
• Your mulligan phase should be focused on clearing a turn 1 Northshire Cleric since that can lead to Velen's and a lot of card advantage.
• Priest has a lot of problems keeping up with an explosive early game start. But if you get to the mid-end game without momentum, you'll lose.

• Dragon Priest (slightly unfavorable)
• Swing Cards: Wyrmrest Agent (2)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Frostbolt/Flamecannon.
• Your mulligan phase should be focused on dealing with a 2/4 Wyrmrest Agent since that can clear your minions and then be healed for a lot of tempo/advantage.
• Your drops generally trade well with them until they start dropping Corruptors and Ysera on you. A Ysera will pretty much win the game single handedly so make sure you are grabbing board in the early turns.
• Dragon Priest is less consistent overall than other decks. Sometimes you can just run over them if they miss out on synergy and early drops.
• Stopping Northshire Cleric is a priority. You can win the advantage game since they don't run a lot of powerful minions.
• This is a tough matchup if they curve out well on 1/2/3/4.

• Face Hunter (unfavorable)
• Key Tech: Kezan Mystic
• Swing Cards: Mad Scientist (2), Animal Companion (3), Unleash the Hounds
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Arcane Missles, Frostbolt/Flamecannon.
• Face Hunter is a nasty matchup. Hunter traps in general are painfully annoying and interact very well against Tempo Mage boards.
• You need a fast start or the game is basically over. They have a lot of one health minions so Arcane Missiles is a good find.
• Mad Scientist is a key card for them because it's extremely annoying for you to deal with. Better find a Mana Wyrm or your own Scientist!
• You also need an answer to Animal Companion on 3 or the game will be over fast. A 4/4 will challenge your board mightily unless you found some removal in your mulligan and the other two animals are obviously nasty to deal with as well.
• Most of the games I win, I play Antonidas by himself on turn 7, either tanking damage or generating Fireballs. Boom can be a liability on turn 7 because of your health total and Unleash.
• Kezan can win this matchup because stealing Explosive Trap is huge against Face Hunter.
  
  

• Midrange Hunter (even)
• Key Tech: Kezan Mystic
• Swing Cards: Mad Scientist (2), Animal Companion (3), Unleash the Hounds, Houndmaster (4), Savannah Highmane (6)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Frostbolt/Flamecannon.
• Midrange Hunter is a much better matchup overall.
• Again, you need to find a fast start. The Hunter will catch up on the Highmane turns so you better generate a lead before turn 6.
• The traps will probably be Freezing so play around accordingly. But do it sensibly and don't leave yourself open to getting owned by an unexpected trap. Sometimes it makes sense not to attack.

• Handlock (slightly unfavorable)
• Key Tech: Clockwork Gnome
• Swing Cards: Hellfire (4), Twilight Drake/Mountain Giant (4)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Frostbolt/Flamecannon.
• Handlock is a very annoying matchup. You have to play it very aggressively and hope to hit a drop on 1, 2, and 3 before the Twilight Drake and stuff come down to punish you.
• You will often get the Lock pretty low but they will then stabilize with taunts and then start healing
• I don't play around Molten Giants. There are only two copies in the deck and you need all the damage you can get in a race against time
• Jaraxxus also heals them up on 9 and the game is usually over if you haven't killed them by then

• Zoolock (very unfavorable)
• Key Tech: Flamestrike
• Swing Cards: Imp Gang Boss (3), Imp-plosion (4)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Frostbolt/Flamecannon.
• Zoolock is probably the worst matchup overall for Tempo Mage. Boy do I hate it!
• Imp Gang Boss is a huge threat with a fat rear end on turn 3. It's pretty hard to kill for you and will always lead to card advantage for the Lock.
• Imp-Plosion is also huge, especially with Knife Juggler. It's also almost impossible to avoid.
• Zoolock will keep tapping aggressively so you can't win through card advantage. You also have to fade Power Overwhelming into all of your big threats while Doomguard gives them plenty of reach.
• This is just a really tough matchup. I suppose you can try to bait them and end the game with reach.

• Secret Paladin (even)
• Key Tech: Arcane Missiles, Arcane Explosion
• Swing Cards: Shielded Minibot (2), Consecration/Truesilver Champion (4), Mysterious Challenger (6)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Arcane Missiles. Go hard for Flamewaker if you have the coin.
• Secret Paladin is a very annoying deck to play against as well. All of their cards line up pretty well against Tempo Mage. They've started running Haunted Creeper as well lately which helps their end.
• The early game is just trying to clear Minibot without losing card advantage. Your mulligan should focus on clearing the standard Minibot + Muster play (you'll need Flamewaker + Missiles).
• The annoying thing is you can play perfectly and get the perfect draw but lose to a common set of factors. One, they buff Secretkeeper to large levels. Two, they get a good redemption on a deathrattle. Three, they hit a huge Coghammer or Truesilver Champion. Four, they hit Mysterious Challenger and then a Boom/Tirion/Challenger combo.
• The most common secrets they play are Avenge and Noble Sacrifice, so generally play as if they set one of those. 
• Usually the Paladin player will play the obvious secret. So trust your instincts. If they set a secret in a way that suggests it is Competitive Spirit or Redemption, it probably is.
• Keep Fireball for the Challenger. You can just Fireball it and ping.
• Focus on keeping presence on the board. You always need minions, especially near the Challenger turn.
• On Challenger turns, you should know what the secrets are so play around them accordingly. Play something to trigger Repentance. Swing something >2 health to trigger Noble Sacrifice. Save a ping or Missiles for Redemption. And so on.
• Try not to lose too much to Consecrate. It's a huge card for them against us though.

• Midrange Paladin (even)
• Key Tech: Flamestrike
• Swing Cards: Shielded Minibot (2), Consecration/Truesilver Champion (4), Quartermaster (5), Justicar Trueheart (6), Tirion (8)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Arcane Missiles. Go hard for Flamewaker if you have the coin.
• This matchup is less annoying but Paladins in general are very difficult to beat if they curve perfectly.
• Play for board and clear recruits. Quartermaster is a huge play for Midrange.
• As the game wears on, you will run out of steam and lose to Justicar's improved hero power. So try to play pretty aggressively.
• Truesilver is a huge threat since it just sweeps your Flamewaker which you will need. Try to protect it with Mirror Images (though that loses to Consecration).
• Sometimes you are winning but then Tirion will just break your back. Stuff happens :(

• Tempo Mage (even)
• Key Tech: Flamestrike
• Swing Cards: Mad Scientist (2), Sorcerer's Apprentice/Flamewaker plays
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions, Frostbolt/Flamecannon
• You want to prioritize getting their Apprentice/Waker off board as soon as possible. Same with their Mana Wyrm.
• Getting a Scientist versus them is a pretty big advantage since it trades with Apprentice and leads to card advantage.
• Midgame is dominated by the person that hits more card draw.
• Flamestrike is a great card to equalize the board in this matchup.
• Play very aggressively if you are leading in tempo. Mages can't come back from a big health disparity and you can end the game by drawing into reach.

• Freeze Mage (slightly unfavorable)
• Key Tech: Kezan Mystic
• Swing Cards: Alextrasza (9)
• Mulligan: 1-2 mana minions
• You need to play this matchup very, very aggressively. You can quickly tell if it's a Freeze Mage by their turn 2 and turn 3 plays. Usually, a ping on 2 or an Arcane Intellect on 3 signifies a Freeze Mage.
• They don't do much for the opening turns so you need to develop a big board and get a big lead in the first three turns. They will eventually catch up with all of their freezes.
• Never play Mirror Entity. They will just play Doomsayer and sweep your board.
• It's perfectly fine to play Mirror Image to protect against their Scientist hits. You generally don't want to give them secrets.
• Keep an eye out for situations where you can game them without attacking directly, since that will leave their Ice Barrier dead
• Try to setup big Archmage turns since they won't often directly remove your Apprentice from the board
• When they do have Ice Block down, do all your biggest damage first and try to leave them at 1 Health so you can just ping the following turn

Concluding Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this guide and enjoy playing Tempo Mage. I want to give a shoutout to Hotform, I read his guide on Tempo Mage and watched a lot of his stream when I was first learning. Also to muirhead01, who wrote a great Patron Warrior guide in the past on HearthPwn that inspired me to try to write this up.

Thanks for checking out my guide! My goal is to write a comprehensive guide for every top tier deck once I can master it. You can find a list of guides below.

• Tempo Mage: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/373629-legend-in-depth-guide-to-tempo-maging
• Aggro Druid: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/389457-t100-legend-in-depth-guide-to-aggro-druid